Be Watchful

BE WATCHFUL

I believe that Christ gives us tangible means through His word in which we are to walk in Him.  Over the next 5 days I am going to try and unravel 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 because I do believe it is a powerful verse in the life of the believer.  It is one that gives us direction, instruction, and truly sets a course for our lives.  It is practical theology that we can grab ahold of.  It is applicable to our lives on daily basis.  It is tangible and livable.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14."Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love."  As Christians, especially Christian men, we are to:

Be Watchful

Stand Firm In The Faith

Act Like Men

Be Strong 

Let All You Do Be Done In Love

Lets look closely at this verse and start with the beginning – Paul tells the church in Corinth to “Be watchful”.  What does that mean?

Let’s start with the word “Be”.  The word “Be” in the English language is a verb, which means it is an action.  It is active when it is something we are doing “I will be driving home” and it is passive when it is happening to/for us “I will be driven home”.  The definition is "to remain unmolested, undisturbed, or uninterrupted”.  In the verse we are looking at it is an active verb because it is something we are doing, BE watchful.  So we are to be watchful, or better yet we are always being watchful, we are never stopping.  It is a process that is ongoing.

Be watchful is actually one Greek word, Γρηγορεῖτε (Grēgoreite) from the word Gregorio which means “I am vigilant, I am on alert, I am awake”.  We see this word used by Christ in Matthew 24:42-43 as He speaks of His return.  He calls on the believer to stay awake, literally BE WATCHFUL for the master would return, to stay vigilant for His return.  In mark 14:34 He tells the disciples to keep watch as He prayed, again they were to BE WATCHFUL, to stay vigilant because He knew what was coming and they would soon see it as well.  Unfortunately the disciples were rebuked by Christ because they couldn’t stay awake, they couldn’t BE WATCHFUL as He prayed.  Paul used the term Gregorio in   1 Thessalonians 5:6 telling us that we must not be asleep as Christians but must BE WATCHFUL concerning the Lords return.

So in the light of scripture Be Watchful is rooted in looking to the LORD for His return, for His word, for His call on our lives.  As Christians we are to be uninterrupted in our pursuit of Christ.  We are to be undisturbed in our walk with Him.  As we read the Word and spend time in prayer we are constantly seeking to be more and more vigilant in Him.  Maybe a better way of looking at the word “Be Watchful” is to see the effects of those not being watchful. Paul writes to the church in Galatia who stopped being watchful, he writes these words:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.  For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.  (Gal 1:6-10, ESV)”

The church in Galatia failed to BE WATCHFUL and instead they found themselves turning to a false gospel.  Their lack of vigilance brought about false teaching and a false gospel into their midst.  Their watchfulness was that of the disciples sleeping while Jesus prayed.  Their vigilance was weak.  When they stopped watching they were easily distracted, they were movable, and their faith was molested and their walk was interrupted.  Perhaps Paul had this in mind as he wrote to the Corinthians.  Paul knew the dangers of those that would pervert the Truth of Christ for personal gain,  Their lack of watchfulness was turning them from Christ back to the flesh.

So as Christians we are to BE WATCHFULL and we do this by:  Spending time in the Word daily, studying scripture, and applying it to our daily life.  We spend time in prayer, crying out to Christ for His will in our lives, that we would know Him better.  We spend time with other Christians in the Word and in prayer – as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another (Prov 27:17).  We worship together corporately as the bride of Christ, His church.  We worship in our homes with our families.  We do these things that we might be vigilant in our walk with Christ, discerning His will as well as being aware of false gospels that abound today. 

May we BE WATCHFUL today, vigilant, alert that we might guard the deposit that as been entrusted to us! (2 Tim 2:14)